A chara, – If the Government is serious about cutting down alcohol consumption, it will start by ending the embarrassing practice of bringing visiting heads of state to pubs and breweries. – Is mise,
ÉILIS QUILL,
Westfield Park,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Compared to Ireland: in Germany alcohol is cheaper and more available; in France alcohol is cheaper and more available; in Spain alcohol is cheaper and more available. And yet binge drinking is less prevalent in these countries than it is here.
By restricting the sale of alcohol, drinkers are being corralled into licensed premises. Here the sole purpose is the sale of alcohol. And nowhere else is alcohol more heavily marketed on hoarding, bunting, posters and TV. This mass marketing by international drinks companies is the root of our dysfunctional relationship with alcohol.
Leave my wallet out of it. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I read with interest your article regarding the possible new laws on alcohol pricing being proposed by Róisín Shortall. I wonder if she can confirm that the Government will be leading by example and stopping the subsidised bar in the Dáil? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – It is clear that the recent Phoenix Park event has sparked a national fuse that calls for a crackdown on the Irish “drink culture”. As a member of the “youth population”, although I find the outcomes of this event unacceptable and worrying, I find it baffling how the actions of a small group of thugs has caused such a public outcry.
Our “drink culture” is an embedded part of our society and has been so for far longer than the occurrences of any incidents similar to those of the Phoenix Park event. Do we truly believe that this proposed crackdown on alcohol will prevent people from carrying knives with them from home? I feel the Government’s aim has gone completely off course. – Yours, etc,